It’s a tale as old as time….

There was once a young girl who grew up wanting to be just like the girl from a Disney movie. She related to her on so many levels, through the characters love for reading, singing and dancing to looking for the good in people. As she grew older, she tried to treat people with equal care and love no matter their appearance. Then one day she found out that they would be bringing her favourite movie back to life and the lead role would be played by an actress who she admired greatly….

Natural Every Day Makeup Tutorial

I’ve had a couple of friends ask me to do a quick and natural looking makeup tutorial. I hadn’t realised but it’s been a while since I’ve done a makeup tutorial. So here goes today’s tutorial for a Natural Every Day Makeup tutorial. Anyone could probably do this look really quickly. For me, it takes 15 minutes max, and that’s if I am multi-tasking. The great thing is that all these products are cruelty-free too!

Since I’ve become a vegetarian and decided to go cruelty-free with my lifestyle, I’ve had to change my beauty routine, which included getting rid of a lot of my makeup, or using it up and not re-purchasing. One of the hardest things was finding a beauty brand that was affordable, good quality and cruelty-free that I could buy the majority of my makeup from. Looking through my makeup collection today I think I have found a winner and it is Australis Cosmetics. [Read more…]

With the nights getting cooler, and darker faster, New Zealand is definitely heading in to Autumn. In my world Autumn brings all the beautiful rich colours that I love most, like shades of brown, gold, orange, red, purple, and other berry colours. So I though it would be perfect to share with you some of my favourite cruelty-free makeup berry tones for Autumn.

If you are like me then you love a little bit of glamour, and Christmas is just another excuse to get all dolled up and be creative with your makeup application. Last year I did a Christmas Makeup Tutorial inspired by the traditional Christmas colours of red and green. This year, however, I took my inspiration from the season of summer (as New Zealand celebrates Christmas in summer), but also from the colours of a wood fire burning on a cold night (for those of you who celebrate Christmas in the colder months.) The aim of this look is for it to look super glowing, yet also glamorous and most important, wearable for a more relaxed Kiwi Christmas. It’s kind of exciting as this is also my first fully cruelty-free makeup tutorial! So let’s get into it.

Glowing Christmas Makeup Tutorial

Step One: Face Base

It’s really important to make sure that your skin has an even texture when you start applying your makeup. The best way to do this is by using a toner before everything else. I use the Tea Tree Spray Toner from Lush Cosmetics and spritz 2 to 3 sprays over my whole face and neck. Tea Tree is also good for your skin if you have any blemishes. As I had a few spots on my cheeks, chin and temples, I applied a very small amount of the Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Lotion. this helps to create a better texture around the skin where the blemish is, while at the same time reducing redness and the visibility of the pimple. Next with clean hands, apply moisturiser to your face and neck and let it sink in for at least 10 minutes. I like to use the Trilogy Vital Moisturising Cream as it is non-greasy which is important in the heat of summer and you only need a pea sized amount to cover your face. Primer is also a really important product to use if you want your makeup to not slip off during a hot Christmas Day. I use the Australis The Original Primer, and again you only need a pea sized amount for your whole face.

The next area which is super important to prime is your eyelids. Seeing as the eyes are one of the main focuses you want to make sure your makeup lasts the whole day. A matte eyelid primer like the Urban Decay Matte Eyeshadow Primer is great for the heat and makes it last that extra few hours. It can also intensify the opacity of your eyeshadows and make the colours pop more.

As the main point for this tutorial is to look glowy I recommend using something like the Lush Feeling Younger Skin Tint underneath your foundation. This will leave your skin looking amazingly glowy as it reflects the light particles.It also doubles as an under eye highlighting concealer and a highlighter.

Once your moisturiser and other priming products have sunk in and dried it is time to apply your foundation. I am now getting into my summer glow and because of the heat I don’t want to use a foundation that is full coverage. I have opted for the Chi Chi Cosmetics Fabulous and Flawless Foundation in 5 Natural Beige. I apply this with my Bossy Cosmetics Stippler Brush. Next apply concealer to problem areas using your ring finger. I used the Collection Cosmetics Illuminating Touch Brightening concealer under my eyes and the Thin Lizzy Concealer Creme in Minx on any blemishes. After patting in set your whole face with a translucent powder. As I am after a lot of glow I used the e.l.f Cosmetics High Definition Powder in Sheer, which has a bit of glitter in the formula. Once applied let it set for 5-10 minutes before lightly brushing the excess off.

Step Two: Face Definition

Contouring is the first step in putting some definition back into your face after creating your face base. I use the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit in Light-Medium for this look, but you can also use the Australis Contour Kit for a more affordable option. I used the middle of the dark powder in the bottom row to contour my face, using the Real Techniques Contour brush. Apply in the hollow of your cheeks (helps to pull a fish face), on your temples and along your jaw bone.

A palette that I used to create an even more glowy look is the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit. This is quite on the pricey side so you can use the Australis bronzers and highlighter for a more affordable alternative. I used the bronzer in this palette across my cheeks and temples to a give a sun-kissed look to my skin. Then for my blush I mixed the two blush shades from the same palette and applied to the apples of my cheeks. If your eyes are still looking a bit tired you can use the Banana shade from the ABH palette underneath them. Lastly I applied the Strobe Lighting Powder in Iridescent Strobe Light to the tops of my cheekbones, on my cupids bow and on the tip of my nose, to highlight my face. All four of these Hourglass shades have great light reflecting properties which is why this palette is perfect for this look!

Step Three: The Eyes

You are probably looking a bit funny at the moment and that will have a lot to do with the fact that you haven’t done your eyebrows yet! Well now it is time to define to scraggly brows into well-shaped arches. Firstly I used the Billion Dollar Brows Universal Brow Pencil to create a more defined shape. Don’t forget to brush it out a bit with the spooly on the other end to make it look a bit more natural and help it to blend. Next I combed throw my brows with the Australis Tint My Brow in Light Brown. Now I did something a little bit silly next. As it was only my second time using false eyelashes, for some weird reason I decided to put the lashes on before doing my eye makeup. I wouldn’t suggest this as you will get the eyeshadows on the tops of your lashes and they will look a bit funny! Skip this step and then come back and do it once you have finished you eye makeup. Apply your eyelashes of choice using tweezers and lash glue.I used some dramatic GlamEyes false lashes which had a few small diamantes in the outer corner.

To start with the base of your eyeshadows I used the Bossy Cosmetics eye define brush with the bronzer from the Ambient Light Edit palette and blended into the crease. Do this two or three times to build it up to your preference. Next I used a combination of Liar and Factory from the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette and blended them into the outer V of my eye, and up into the crease. To create a warm sun and fire glow to my eyelids I used the RoVie Loose sparkly eyeshadow in Pumpkin Pie all over my lid and blended it into the crease with a clean blending brush. To intensify the colour even more spray a setting spray, like the NYX Dewy Finish, on your makeup brush before swirling the eyeshadow onto the brush. For the inner corners of my eyes I used the Australis Metallix Eyeshadow in Pearl Jammin. Also use a bit of highlighter on your brow bone. Next line your upper lash line, tight-line and waterline with a black eye liner pencil like the Thin Lizzy Eye liner pencil in Black. Blend it out a bit on your lower lash line This helps conceal the lash-band of your lashes and creates a bolder look. You could also use a liquid eyeliner for your top lash line for a thinner line. Lastly for the eyes, apply mascara to blend together your natural and false eyelashes. I used the Eye of Horus Goddess Mascara, which also happens to be waterproof.

Step Four: The Lips

The great thing is you have already prepped you lips 3 steps ago, so we can get straight into the colouring in! Start off by lining your lips with a red lipliner. I think this look goes best with a slightly overdrawn lip. For the lips today I have 3 options in terms of colour and opacity. The choice all comes down to how bold and casual you want to go. The first option is a simple lip tint from Sierra Bees. This is a really sheer lip tint in a sparkly red colour which is great for something more casual. For something a little bit more you could go for a classy, reddy-pink lipstick with a gold reflect to it like this ColourCo one that I got from a Pharmacy pack. The last and most dramatic option is to go for a bright matte red like the Australis NY-CEE Velourlips. This is a great option as it is also long-lasting!

Set your face with a setting spray and you are ready for the Christmas Day celebrations! Don’t forget to tag me on social media if you post a photo of you recreation!

What lip do you prefer? Subtle, Classy or Dramatic? Let me know in the comments below!

Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics is an awesome cruelty-free cosmetics company that originates from the United Kingdom. I feel like my love for Lush products and their values was predestined, as they were officially launched in [Read more…]

If you a beautiholic like me, and like a lot of beauty and brand pages on Facebook, you may have noticed this video of vlogger Nikkie, from Nikkie Tutorials, floating around your NewsFeed. What is so “controversial” #amazing about this video is that Nikkie shows the power makeup has to transform your face. Now what I love most about the point she is putting across is that both halves of her face (both her natural and “made-up” makeup-face) are BOTH who SHE IS. Lately, make-up shaming has unfortunately become a thing on Social Media. People share photos like the one below saying that they don’t like make-up because it creates a lie.

You may have seen this poor girl’s photo all over Facebook for the last few months. I believe she looks beautiful in both the photos and that the makeup doesn’t make her a completely new person.

I have always thought myself as a bright lippie kind of girl, but recently I have noticed myself wearing a lot more neutral colours on my lips. This probably has a lot to do with wearing work appropriate makeup as well as wanting to wear something that isn’t to noticeable when it wears off. So today, inspired by my everyday wear and this weeks #BlogGreatness topic Neutral, I thought I would share my favourite, cruelty-free, neutral lipsticks.

Well you guessed it!! While I was away in Australia I picked up a few of the Australis AC on Tour palettes for me, some friends and one for YOU!! You are going to have quite a few opportunities to win this awesome palette (that is so hard to buy in New Zealand) as I will be posting ways to enter on Facebook, Instagram as well as right here on the blog.

As you can see from the couple of photos I have posted above I just adore this palette and even better it is Cruelty free just like the rest of the Australis products!! So go ahead and enter the competition!! You have two weeks to enter!

You can probably tell by now that I love Christmastime and one of my favourite things to do is get dressed up and put on some glamour makeup for the big day. This year as a part of blogmas I decided to do a Christmas themed makeup post for you all! Hope this is easy to follow along with! Please feel free to tag me in photos on Social media if you try out this look (@SpanishBluebell on Twitter and Instagram.)

The Christmas Makeup Tutorial

STEP ONE: The Face

Starting with clean skin and hands, apply moisturiser to your face and neck. Next you can apply any primer, eye cream or other products that you want under your foundation. Once your moisturiser and other priming products have sunk in and dried it is time to apply your foundation. I like to apply mine with my favourite tool, the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion sponge. Once applied let it dry for 5-10 minutes before moving on to the next step.

STEP TWO: Enhancing your facial features

To contour your face, use the Maybelline FITme sticks in a darker and lighter colour than your skin (or you can use any other contouring kit you have). Draw lines with the darker shade under the cheek bones, down the sides of the nose, on the jaw line and a triangle on both of the temples. Then use the lighter colour in the middle of your forehead and down the middle of your nose, above your cupids bow and the middle of the chin. (If you want to see a more close up picture of the contouring, check out my other makeup tutorials!)

Next apply your chosen blush to your cheeks. I applied my Almay colour match blush to the apples of my cheeks as it is a very light pink on my skin. You may choose to use powder, mousse or liquid blush, but any of them will work with this look.

Apply concealer in an inverted triangle shape under your eyes and on any blemishes. Then follow with a powder bronzer to accentuate the contouring you just did. (Yes you can skip this if you want!)

STEP THREE: Eyes

To start of with fill in your eyebrows with the e.l.f Eyebrow Kit. Use the dark gel with the Real Techniques brow brush (or the angled brush in the kit) to draw and fill in your eyebrows. Next use the same brush (or the bigger flexible side of the brush in the kit) and pick up some of the brown powder to completely fill in the eyebrows, without cleaning the so the powder sticks to the brush and makes it easier to apply. Last for the brows, use a spooly brush and comb your brows into a nice positions to create a softer natural look.

Apply an eyeshadow primer to cover all you eyelid and smooth out small creases, or you can be like me and use a mousse eyeshadow. This will make your eyeshadow last a lot longer and look more vibrant.

Using the Sleek MakeUP Garden of Eden Palette.

The colours being used for this look are: Tree of Life, Fauna, Fig, Adam’s Apple and Evergreen.

Eyes Part One

Eyeshadow time!! First apply Tree of Life to the crease of your eyelids with the Real Techniques deluxe crease brush. Next, using a mixture of FaunaandFig blend them in from the corners of your eyes up into the crease and on the rest of your eyelid with the Real Techniques Base Shadow brush. Next pat on the sparkly Evergreen, to the middle area of your crease, with the eyeshadow sponge applicator in your palette. Lastly in order, lightly dust Adam’s Apple, Evergreen andTree of Lifeunder your bottom lash line from the inner corner of your eye to the outer corner.

Eyes Part Two

Next it is time to line your eyes and pop on some mascara. I used a dark green eyeliner to line my waterlines, the e.l.f waterproof liquid liner to line my upper lash line and the new Rimmel London Wonder’full mascara on my lashes. I think that this look would be great with either the thin liner I used or even a little cat eye flick.

STEP FOUR: Lips

Now for the lips. Although they aren’t the feature of this look I still love a simple bold red lip to go with the Christmas colours!

As I recommend using a stain and lipstick combo to achieve this look make sure to use a lip scrub first to get rid of any dead skin. The lip scrub pictured is my normal LUSH Mint Julips lip scrub (I took off the label because I’m a bit special). Make sure you apply a lip balm right after and let it dry completely.

Next apply your chosen lip liner to figure out how you want to accentuate your lips and to stop the lipstick from bleeding. I like to have a defined cupids bow and I have shown you the bare basics of my lip liner. Then you can apply your chosen lip stain. Mine just so happens to be a Revlon ColorStay lip stain in the colour Sangria which is my favourite lip stain of all time. Lastly, apply your red Christmas lipstick. In the look I have use one of the Kate Moss Rimmel lipsticks.

STEP FIVE: Shimmer time

First Snow is currently one of my favourite all-time products from the LUSH Christmas Collection for 2014. It smells so good and citrusy and it gives you instant shimmer. For today’s look I used this as a highlighter on the top of my cheek bones and a bit on my exposed skin all over my body! (I had quite subtly glittery hands after this.) This is the last step to complete my Christmas makeup
Well that is it for this makeup tutorial! This will benefit me as much as you guys as it will help me to keep organised for Christmas day and put my makeup up on quicker! I have put together a wee look below, including nails, purely because I was so excited about my new green velvet dress from Boohoo.com.

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I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! See you tomorrow for Day 3 of my Blogmas challenge.

P.S I apologise for the changing of my skin colour throughout this tutorial. I have no idea what happened there!

Flamenco is one of the most romantic dances and folk musics in the whole world, and it just so happens that it originated in Andalusia, Spain. Flamenco is popular in many countries across the world and there are even flamenco academies in Japan!! (One on my Japanese friends has been to one.)

Seeing as it is still Spanish Month on Child of Ponderings, until October 31st, and I love to do makeup tutorials, I thought that today’s (belated) post could be inspired by the makeup I have seen on Flamenco dancers.

Today I bring you….

A Flamenco Makeup Tutorial

STEP ONE: Face Basics

Start off by applying moisturiser to your face and neck. After that has sunk in, apply a small 10 cent piece size of primer or Aloe Vera creme (to act as a sort of primer, as I still don’t own one). The Aloe Vera smooths out your skin by helping to smooth over any pores and lines.

STEP TWO: Foundation, Contouring & Highlighting

Next apply foundation with the Real Techniques Foundation brush to the areas of your face that need the most coverage and blend well. You could also used a beauty blender or stippling brush.

To contour your face, use the Maybelline FITme sticks in a darker and lighter colour than your skin (or you can use any other contouring kit you have). Draw lines with the darker shade under the cheek bones, down the sides of the nose, on the jaw line and a triangle on both of the temples. Then use the lighter colour in the middle of your forehead and down the middle of your nose, above your cupids bow and the middle of the chin.

Shade in two large inverted triangles under the eyes and extending onto the top of the cheeks. You can see in this picture where I like to place the two shades, however this contouring will not necessarily suit everyone, so make sure out try out contouring beforehand. Buff them together with a buffing brush (I use the Real Techniques one) going from light to dark.

If you feel the need to this would be the time to do a bit of concealing. Apply concealer to the place where most needed, including under the eyes and on any blemishes. (Make sure to only apply the product with clean fingers onto pimples.)

STEP THREE: Face Accents

If you really want your contouring to stand out brush over the darker areas with your bronzing powder and a contour brush like the Real Techniques one, which is what I like to do but you may, or may not need it. Again its really up to what you are comfortable with.

For my blush I chose a bright, deep pink blush. Blend a small amount onto the higher parts of your cheeks with a blush brush. (I don’t currently own a good blush brush so I just use my Thin Lizzy brush).

Using a fan brush and a highlighter or setting powder, highlight under your eyes, above where your blush is and down the center of your face.

Lastly apply a tiny amount of eyelid primer to your eyelids. Let it dry before moving onto the next step.

STEP FOUR: Eyes

To start of with fill in your eyebrows with the e.l.f Eyebrow Kit. Use the dark gel with the Real Techniques brow brush (or the angled brush in the kit) to draw and fill in your eyebrows. Next use the same brush (or the bigger flexible side of the brush in the kit) and pick up some of the brown powder to completely fill in the eyebrows, without cleaning the so the powder sticks to the brush and makes it easier to apply. Last for the brows, use a spooly brush and comb your brows into a nice positions to create a softer natural look.

Using the Sleek MakeUP Au Natural Palette.

The colours being used for this look are: Noir, Conker, Bark, Toast and Nougat.

Eyes Part One

On to the eyeshadow! First apply Noir to the crease of your eyelids with the Real Techniques deluxe crease brush. Next, using a mixture of Bark andToast blend them in from the corners of your eyes up into the crease with the Real Techniques Base Shadow brush. Taking the Base Shadow brush, use Toast againon the rest of your eyelid. Next pat on the sparkly Taupe, to the middle area of your crease, with the eyeshadow sponge applicator in your palette. Lastly, lightly dust Nougat under your brow bone and in the center of your eyelid.

Using a black pencil eyeliner, line just below, and on, your waterline as well as on the top lid.

Eyes Part Two

Only thing left for the eyes now is to put on your mascara on the top and bottom lashes. Your eyes are now done!!

STEP FIVE: Lips

Now for the lips. They are pretty much the main feature of the makeup, yet so simple to do!

As I recommend using a stain to achieve this look (and for long wear if your do happen to be doing flamenco) make sure to use a lip scrub first to get rid of any dead skin. The lip scrub pictured is my normal LUSH Mint Julips lip scrub (I took off the label for a very special reason). Make sure you apply a lip balm right after and let it dry completely.

Last, apply your chosen lip stain. Mine just so happens to be a Revlon ColorStay lip stain in the colour Sangria (If you don’t know what Sangria is you are missing out!!)

THE FINISHED LOOK

And here is the finished look! To make it look really authentic pull out a red flower like the one I have (which you can buy at a $2 shop). I have also included a wee photoshoot gallery that I did featuring this look.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and if you did let me know in the comments! Please share a photo with me via social media and the hashtag #childofponderings (or tag me!) if you try this look out and I would love to see your results.

Love,

Sarah-Elizabeth

xoxo

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P.S I am sorry for only posting once last week but I was finishing a few assessments and then I have been sick all long weekend. To make up for it I will be posting a couple of recipes over the next couple of days as well as my final post for Spanish Month!

So earlier this week a good friend of mine requested that I do a tutorial on my everyday smokey eye look. I realise now (after doing my makeup) that she actually said as well that I do a brown smokey eye, but my everyday look is actually a purple-ish one. (If you are keen to see me do my brown smokey eye as a tutorial just let me know in the comments below!) This is quite a versatile look as I can wear it during the day as well as at night. I also tried this look out on my cousin while I was in Ashburton last weekend and will also include her before and after photos.

I have decided that now is the perfect time to introduce you to my new monthly series called Inspired. Basically, I see something, I like it, I do it. Pretty simple to follow, yeah?

Well anyway to start us off with I thought I would ease my way into this series with a simple eye makeup tutorial I saw on Shaaanxo’s Youtube Channel recently. You may have seen the video tutorial for this look so I have done this photo tutorial on my experience of trying to follow along! If you don’t know Shannon (a.k.a Shaaanxo) is New Zealand’s most famous YouTube Beauty Guru and she recently did a one brand look only using Sleek MakeUP. I absolutely loved the look and though I would try it out with the Sleek MakeUP Palettes I recently bought. Below you can find my “how I did it” tutorial with all the products I used to try and recreate her look. 🙂

Note:As I am doing a bit of a project pan you will probably see me use the same products in a few tutorials in the future.

I started off by applying a dollop of Olay Day Moisturiser to my face and neck. After that had sunk in I went on to apply a small 10 cent piece size of Aloe Vera creme to act as a sort of primer (as I still don’t own one) The Aloe Vera smooths out your skin by helping to smooth over any pores and lines. Next on to foundation!

Using a slightly damp beauty sponge apply a pea sized blob of foundation to the back of your hand and then apply all over the face. I like to use the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge, pictured, with the Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation. You could also used a foundation or stippling brush but I prefer to use my blender as it gives me a smoother finish.

(This next step isn’t necessary unless you feel like you need to and I actually chose not to today.) Apply a concealer under your eyes and cover any blemishes on your face. I used my Thin Lizzy Concealer in Minx with the detailer brush from Real Techniques.

Lastly for my face base, I used a bronzing powder lightly all over with a Kabuki or bronzer brush. (Sorry I picked up the wrong brush when taking this photo.)

So a couple of really exciting packages arrived the mail yesterday and I just had to share with you what I received!

For starters, my new iPhone 5s arrived!!! This is so exciting for me as I have never owned something to good/expensive or a camera with such high definition and quality photos!! Of course being me I had to stick it in a case right away, cause I’m a dropper. Which is why I normally don’t have nice things.

Anyway, what I really wanted to share with you is the new additions to my makeup arsenal! I’d like to introduce you all to the Sleek iDivine Eyeshadow Palettes!!! Recently I bought 4 palettes from the Sleek MakeUP website. The four palettes are Rio Rio (Limited Edition), Garden of Eden, Vintage Romance and Au Naturel. All up my order cost me $57.51 (NZD) (including the welcome discount and shipping as they ship straight to New Zealand!)